


million miles away (there's a lot of love in this place)

by sunsetphantoms



Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: 5+1 Things, But he is, Gen, Good Friend Alex Mercer (Julie and The Phantoms), Good Friend Julie Molina, Good Friend Luke Patterson (Julie and The Phantoms), M/M, No beta we die like Sunset Curve, Non-Binary Reggie Peters (Julie and The Phantoms), Nonbinary Character, Reggie Peters Needs a Hug (Julie and The Phantoms), Trans Luke Patterson (Julie and The Phantoms), accidental misgendering in part 4, asexual reggie peters (literally not even hinted at once), every part is longer than the previous one, good friend willie, he/they willie, i don't know how to tag someone help me, reggie is afab, reggie peters has gender dysphoria, she/they flynn (not mentioned but it's important to me), they/them reggie peters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-17
Updated: 2021-02-17
Packaged: 2021-03-11 23:35:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,168
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29500731
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunsetphantoms/pseuds/sunsetphantoms
Summary: 5 times reggie poofs in and finds out they're missing their binder and immediately poofs away and one time they stay and explain it to everyone
Relationships: Alex Mercer & Julie Molina & Luke Patterson & Reggie Peters, Alex Mercer & Luke Patterson & Reggie Peters (Julie and The Phantoms), Alex Mercer/Willie (Julie and The Phantoms), Reggie Peters & Willie (Julie and The Phantoms)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 57





	million miles away (there's a lot of love in this place)

**Author's Note:**

> hiya this is my first story, i did a little bit of proof-reading but a lot of things probably still don't add up and make no sense plus of course it's literally just me projecting issues on my comfort character because i can't deal with the stress
> 
> it probably sucks, i am aware don't worry. for everyone reading this because of willex i'm sorry to disappoint but their relationship is mentioned like three times, but willie does show up on his own in the last two parts.  
> check out my [tumblr](https://sunset--phantoms.tumblr.com)

**_one_ **

reggie always felt kinda uneasy being called a girl by their parents or relatives at family gatherings or by their friends at school but they could never really pinpoint why it felt so wrong. reggie didn’t really know when they realized he pronouns felt wrong and they pronouns were better fit, but it felt so right so they didn’t think about it much. reggie knew that they eventually wanted everyone to start using they/them and were even preparing a speech they wanted to tell their friends after their upcoming gig.

and then they all fucking died. just hours before their gig at the orpheum. and it sucked.

when they came back as a ghost, all reggie could think about was how glad they were that they cut their hair short a few days prior (telling their friends that they needed some drastic change and that “it’s just hair you guys, it will grow back eventually”) and also wearing their binder. so fucking grateful for that, because who knows how this ghost shit works right?

after what felt like a little over an hour in the weird dark room, where the only things reggie could hear was luke’s quiet humming and alex’s not-so-quiet sobs along with reggie's own heavy breathing, they re-appeared in their old garage studio, except it wasn’t theirs anymore. they gathered that much from how the young girl screamed when she saw them. after few conversations, they sort of befriended her and eventually became a band, julie and the phantoms.

everything felt so right all the time which meant the second things got bad again it would be worse than ever before.

they played the orpheum with julie and it was awesome. reggie could sense things were gonna get bad again soon so they started to slowly push all their friends away. since none of their friends knew about their struggles it just felt wrong to be with them all the time. and that’s when reggie started to lose their focus.

the day before, luke told reggie and alex to meet him at the beach so they could hang out, just like they used to back in the 90s (the fact that luke really just wanted to find out how swimming worked now that they weren't alive and he didn’t wanna do it alone was just a detail). alex was spending the time before their meet-up with his new ghost (definitely not boyfriend) friend willie and luke was either with julie or his parents which left reggie alone in the studio. after spending the day brainstorming some new country tunes and quietly strumming on the guitar, it was time to go.

when reggie poofed onto the beach they could feel something was _wrong_. they looked around, a little disoriented, and saw alex, luke, jullie, and one more person just standing together laughing along to something luke probably said. alex was the first to notice reggie, raising his arm and waving in their direction. the others followed quickly, all looking straight at reggie. they raised their own hand to wave back when they realized what was wrong. _they were missing their binder._

none of his friends knew they were wearing a binder in the first place so coming up to them and telling them why they needed to go back wasn’t really an option. their chest started to feel really heavy and when their friends started walking in their direction, reggie just poofed away.

even though there was no specific destination in reggie’s mind, they landed on the couch in the studio before pulling themselves together and poofing away again so none of their friends would find them.

the binder showed up on reggie’s body after they woke up from a _really_ unpleasant nap on the ground in some random alley, few blocks from the studio.

the next day they showed up just in time for rehearsal (this time by walking to avoid a situation similar to the day before) and before anyone could start, reggie made sure to give them all a look telling everyone to avoid talking about last night.

**_two_ **

it takes about two weeks with close to no poofing anywhere and few days spent curled up in julie’s bed for reggie to start feeling better and in control of poofing again. but of course shit had to get bad again.

reggie was hanging out with ray again. julie and carlos were still at school, alex was with (his boyfriend, _finally_ ) willie again and luke told them he was gonna hang out at the pier until julie gets home because he didn’t have many ideas for their newest song and hanging out in the space he knows "is not gonna make him creative". so reggie had no filter at all. reggie doesn't even know how long they’ve been talking for but they know ray has already gone through two meals since the start of their one-sided conversation.

it was nice to finally let out all the feelings that have been keeping them on edge the last two weeks. right now it was getting close to the time when julie was supposed to get home so instead of more venting (which was already scheduled for tomorrow) reggie talked about the band’s most recent gig and the setlist. when they heard the front door open they turned around to see julie walking in, looking absolutely wrecked. ray turned around too and let out a small chuckle before “how was school honey?” he asked, looking a little too amused by his daughter's state. she just glared at him before softening her glance when she saw how confused reggie was. “i know i shouldn’t have taken the dance class but it was last spot, i couldn’t let it get away from me again. i’m just gonna hate wednesdays from now on, that should work” she said looking towards her dad but reggie knew if they weren’t there, she probably wouldn’t say anything. after few more moments of silence, reggie got up and with a smile sitting on their face said “i’ll go tell luke you’re back, we’ll be in the studio whenever you’re ready”. she sent one more smile at reggie before going upstairs to her room.

reggie poofs into the garage with their head pretty much empty, not really expecting anyone to be there so when they see willie and alex making out on the couch they just kinda freeze. not because they get uncomfortable in these situations but because they can feel something is wrong _again_.

reggie stumbles few steps back, too afraid to poof away in their current state but of course luke had to leave his stupid collection of picks on the ground today and of course, reggie stepped right into them and fell down. which means alex and willie _definitely_ know someone is here. “damn girl are you okay?” reggie’s eyes open quickly to see pretty long-haired asian dude with his hand stretched in reggie’s direction. the word girl just echoes in reggie’s mind as they finally realize what felt so wrong. _they’re missing their binder again._

even though reggie does not feel like poofing anywhere right now, they also can’t imagine being in the studio with two more people without their binder after falling on the ground because they tried to give the couple some privacy, so reggie poofs away. again.

at first, reggie just moves to the loft but the second try is more successful as they end up sitting at the closed-off for public part of the beach. reggie has no idea when they started crying (or how was it even possible that they were crying) but by the time they noticed, they had already gone through the bawling-my-eyes-out stage and now were just sitting quietly with tears falling down.

**_three_ **

things were really hard right now. julie and the phantoms has finally started getting some recognition which means people have been talking about them. not just the band as a whole but also its members on their own. julie was showing them some sweet comments on the youtube video of their newest track but all reggie could focus on was the comment above saying something about not being sure if the bassist is a girl or a boy, but it’s ugly anyway. no one else seemed to notice which was nice because that meant nobody focused on reggie but that also meant they started to spiral into bad territory.

when julie said she had to go to study reggie was so happy because it meant no more mean comments about them. though that’s not exactly what happened because the boys were sleeping (or at least the closest you can get to sleep when you’re a ghost) but reggie couldn’t stop thinking. they had to find out what other people said about them, so that’s exactly what they went to do.

julie would be really mad if she found out reggie went through her laptop without telling her but they had to know, so they were hoping she’d never find out. but of course, she did. reggie didn’t even realize it was daytime again which means they also didn’t realize julie would be waking up soon. the only thing reggie could think about right now was all those mean comments and the tears that were _once again_ just silently rolling down their face.

a pillow fell off the bed which brought reggie back to the present, before they even looked up to the bed, they could hear very sleepy and confused julie, kinda muffled by a pillow “reg? what are you doing here? what’s the time?”. as an answer to that, reggie just closed the youtube tab and turned off the laptop, before smiling sheepishly and looking at julie while getting ready to poof away. unfortunately, julie managed to grab their arm before they got a chance to do so. “are you okay reggie? you know you can talk to me right? we’re the _girls_ in this band we gotta stick together” and for (to reggie) obvious reasons, reggie started crying even more. why did everyone have to remind them they were a girl _all the damn time_. reggie continued trying to get out of julie’s hold so they could poof away, thankfully, she took their increase in crying as a sign they were gonna talk, so she let go.

reggie took the chance and since they forgot to think, _again_ , they ended up in their usual spot in the studio. unfortunately, both guys were already awake and quietly jamming, when reggie poofed right between them, because why not right? willie could show up right now to see reggie cry and they wouldn't even be surprised.

the second the guys noticed him, they stopped everything and suddenly it was so quiet reggie was lucky they didn’t have to breathe cause they would totally start choking on air right now. apparently though, their brain didn’t get the whole being-dead memo thing so that’s exactly what happened. reggie was fucking choking on air (even though reggie themself was made of air so it was just really confusing for everyone involved).

after regaining the ability to breathe (again, what the fuck), reggie realized that _once again_ something was very wrong. they had a feeling they knew what it was, but reggie was hoping it was something else, it wasn’t.

one slight move of an arm was all it took to make sure the binder was really missing. luke and alex looked really friggin worried but scared to go any closer in case that was the reason reggie couldn’t breathe in the first place, and if reggie wasn’t so focused on their missing binder, they would realize these are some good friends.

reggie was about to try to calm down and think of a solution but then half-asleep julie walked into the garage and without thinking, reggie just poofed away. this time onto the alley a few blocks from their house which they occasionally slept in when their parents were arguing. reggie hasn’t been in there since luke told them, he would keep his window half-open so reggie could get in in case it was late at night and reggie needed a place to go after reggie told him about their parents' constant arguing.

reggie had to take luke up on that offer the same day he offered them because, from all the fights reggie had to hear and/or watch, this one was the worst one yet.

luke understood though. he knew reggie didn’t have it easy so both luke’s and alex’s parents, partly adopted them and gave them at least some stability in life. reggie was really grateful for that at the moment, but now they were thinking what if things weren’t really that bad at their home and reggie’s head just made it seem like that because they didn’t like their own family? so many what-ifs going through reggie’s head right now and they just didn’t stop.

this was the first time in the afterlife that reggie missed band practice, first of many.

**_four_ **

the band started to realize something was seriously wrong with reggie. julie wanted to have a girl talk but the boys knew that if reggie didn’t come first, she’d just distance herself more from them all and it would take even longer to get her to talk. so they all just pretended everything was fine.

“reggie, you know i love you but we can’t walk to the other side of the city _just because_ we’re ghosts who don’t get tired. it would take us over two hours and i am not doing that, neither i am letting you go alone because even though we’re ghosts, someone could still decide it’s worth a try to attack the hot _ghost girl_ ” reggie’s jaw tightened and their whole body flinched when alex called them a girl but after noticing luke’s stare they started to form an answer. the real reason reggie didn’t wanna poof to the place of tomorrow’s gig was the fact that the guys would decide to poof there only two minutes prior and if reggie poofed in without a binder, they’d have to play without it and they could already see the comments the so-called fans would make.

but reggie couldn’t tell alex and luke that so they decided to go with a simple “c’mon, we could see how much the city changed over the years, remember that pizzeria a few blocks from your house? we don’t know if it still is a pizzeria or not, and there are so many of those places and most of them are on the way. please, guys, it will be fun”. they were both looking at reggie judgmentally, but there was something else. reggie couldn’t figure out what it was but it wasn’t anything bad (or at least they hoped it wasn’t).

luke opened his mouth to say something but julie chose this exact moment to walk into the garage, crying. reggie’s struggles were long forgotten as everyone moved their focus on julie, trying to figure out what’s wrong.

it ended up just being julie getting too emotional over having such an amazing band and best friends, though it took her almost twenty minutes to tell them that. it goes without saying that the rest of the night was spent binge watching high school musical and star wars.

the day of their gig, reggie couldn’t sleep. they paced around the studio, quietly enough not to wake up the boys, trying to figure out how to convince them to walk for two hours instead of poofing to the club in the next couple of hours. apparently, they were not so quiet because after about an hour of pacing they could hear a raspy, quiet voice coming from the couch. “reg? is everything okay?” reggie froze and after few seconds, they slowly turned around ready to face just woken up luke. reggie didn’t even realize they were crying until they felt a tear make its way across their cheek.

“we’ll walk to the gig, don’t worry, i got alex on board before we went to bed. whatever it is it’s gonna be okay. now go to sleep please, you’ll need all the energy you can get” and reggie couldn’t believe their ears. they had the best friends on the whole planet. after that, reggie was asleep in minutes.

as luke said, the band (sans julie) was currently walking through slightly familiar neighborhoods, looking for things they remembered from the 90s. “i gotta give it to you reg, this was a great idea” said alex about halfway and all reggie could do was smile.

they reached their destination, all of them glowing with happiness and their performance that night was almost as amazing as the one at the orpheum. julie was talking to the club owner because apparently, he wanted them to perform there once a week and when things started to get serious she told the rest of the band to go home, that she’d just go to the studio when she got back as well. reggie, still buzzing with adrenaline was walking around the room, while alex and luke were riding out the post-concert high sitting down on the sofa. alex was the first one to talk “since we already saw all the places on our way here, we can poof back home right?” he was looking at luke but everyone in the room knew they were waiting for reggie to answer so when they both turned their heads to face reggie, they just nodded before poofing first to make it even clearer.

though that turned out to be a bad idea, because after not poofing for over a week, reggie lost pretty much all the focus and somehow, once again, lost their binder.

reggie was glad that the boys didn’t poof right after them so they had time to poof to the loft to hide from the guys. reggie really didn’t want to spend another night sleeping in an alley but they knew they had to at least take a nap for the binder to show up again. and thankfully it worked because when the boys poofed in, they had no idea reggie was trying their best to fall asleep above their heads.

“-in her face, her whole body froze alex. that has to mean something right?” reggie heard luke saying as they were waking up from the hopefully successful nap. “okay yeah you’re right but i still don’t think intervention is a good choice, when we were alive it only pushed her away” so they were talking about reggie, at first reggie though they were maybe discussing julie but it was clear now. reggie didn’t know if the boys found them while they slept so they kept their eyes closed just in case, so they could listen in on the conversation.

“she’s already distanced herself more than ever, i think we should rethink our strategy. if something like this happened while we were alive we probably would have talked to her already from the fear of her killing herself but just because that isn’t an option anymore doesn’t mean we should let her suffer alone alex, she needs this, we need this, not only for the band but mostly to keep the friendship alive, i just really miss her alex” luke’s last words broke reggie. the guys would always be there for them, it felt almost silly to not be able to come out to them. the only problem was reggie didn’t know what they should come out as.

**_five_ **

reggie was starting to feel in control again. they knew that avoiding poofing would make things even worse so now they were poofing all the time just to practice and prevent any more accidents.

it’s not that reggie was avoiding alex and luke after they overheard them talking after the last gig but they weren’t exactly spending time with the guys either. mostly because they were practicing poofing on the beach or at the pier but also because reggie felt really bad anytime they passed down an opportunity to tell them about how they’ve been feeling, and there was a lot of them.

one day reggie felt really confident about their poofing skills and decided to just poof in on the sofa since reggie knew for a fact that the guys would be there. and as predicted, reggie poofed in (with their binder) between luke and alex. the boys were a little startled by it since this was the first time in _weeks_ that they saw reggie poof in instead of walk in through the door but they both just smiled and carried on with the conversation they were having while snuggling a little closer to reggie.

“luke i’m telling you willie definitely doesn’t like me like _that,_ i mean have you seen them? they probably only talk to me to get closer to you or something” luke laughed at alex’s words but before he could say something reggie turned his head with a confused face on it towards alex. “they?” reggie asked, not sure if they heard alex correctly. alex just slowly nodded before adding “yeah, willie’s preferred pronouns are he and they so i just kinda juggle between the two whenever i talk about him”. after that reggie’s confusion turned into something not even luke count identify and before either of the boys could say anything about it, reggie was gone.

“okay something is _definitely_ wrong alex, we haven’t seen reggie poof pretty much for weeks and now it happened twice in the same hour? that doesn’t sit right with me” luke said with a concerned face while moving to lean on alex since reggie was no longer sitting between them. alex just sighed before turning his head to luke. “i know, i know. we should really talk, all of us, as soon as possible”. after that, the studio fell into silence again, neither of the boys feeling like talking again.

reggie was determined to find willie today because if they didn’t, they’d lose all the courage they built over time and it would take weeks to find it again. luckily, reggie didn’t have to look for long as willie was in the abandoned skate park alex told them about countless times. as reggie approached the park, they started to doubt their plans and thought that maybe it would be better to just walk away and figure it out on their own. unfortunately (or maybe luckily) willie has already spotted them and was walking towards reggie.

“regina, right? i’ve seen you with alex a couple of times but he never really introduced me to you properly” said the skater as he _or they, reggie thought,_ walked close enough for reggie to hear him. “um actually i prefer reggie, but yeah, i’ve seen you a few times too, alex talks about you all the time” willie blushed at reggie’s last words “only the good stuff” added reggie after few seconds with a smile on their lips.

“so what brings you here? wanna become trendy skater girl?” reggie flinched at those words and while none of their bandmates ever picked up on it, willie apparently did. “hey you okay?” reggie nodded and took a few deep breaths before speaking up again. “i know we don’t know each other at all but i was hoping i could talk to you about something?” willie nodded as they led them both towards the bench on the side of the pavement they were currently standing at. “so i um kinda overheard alex- well not really overheard cause he was talking to me- or actually no he was talking to luke and i just poofed in there but they both knew about me to he was kinda talking to me but i didn’t hear the whole conver-“ “reggie? you’re talking nonsense, how about we take few breaths and you get to the main point okay?” reggie nodded and took a deep breath in, only just realizing how needed it was (still no idea how breathing worked with the whole being a ghost thing). after few more seconds, reggie started talking again “so i heard alex using they when talking about you and i guess i just wanted to know how it worked because i didn’t know it was an actual thing for other people as well”. reggie was ready to just poof away the second things started to look bad. i mean they would probably poof into the studio where the boys were probably still talking but even that would be better than an uncomfortable conversation with alex’s boyfriend _(or partner? what if willie felt the same as reggie?)._ before spiraling into their own thoughts again, willie spoke up again.

“yeah, i’m non-binary, that basically means i don’t really feel like a boy or girl. a lot of non-binary people go by few different sets of pronouns, for me it’s he and they. they is always good and he i’m only comfortable with on good days, for example today or from people who are close to me, although some non-binary people prefer only one set of pronouns. everyone is different, there is no one definition of gender identity. you’re just who you are and no one can tell you otherwise” willie paused for a second to take in reggie’s surprised face. “do you feel like you’d be more comfortable with different pronouns?” reggie blinked few times before taking in a shaky breath and nodding.

reggie knew willie was expecting them to say something so reggie did all they could to pull themselves together as fast as possible. “i- i guess i kinda really hate being seen as a girl by everyone but just like you said i don’t really feel like i want to be a boy either so i never really did anything about it? when luke came out as trans in the 90s he got a lot of backlash for changing into another gender and i can’t even imagine what kind of thing people would say if i said i felt like no gender” reggie chuckled, once again only realizing their tears as they felt them dripping on their hands. “plus up until now i felt like i was the only one dealing with this. i’ve been wanting to tell the band for so long but i didn’t even know what i’d say, you know? please don’t call me a girl but also please don’t call me a boy either and use they pronouns when you’re talking about me because any other pronouns make me feel really weird and uncomfortable? i don’t think so, even saying this to you now feels silly” reggie shook their head before turning it down to stare at their own hands.

“it’s not silly reggie. i felt pretty much the exact same most of my life. i only learned what non-binary meant after i died but i already knew i wasn’t a boy or a girl before that but just like you, i had the need to stick a label on it to feel valid and now that i can do that i’m just happy being me. i still get bad days though, like the ones when i just want to scratch off my skin and just form my muscles into a different shape but since i came out to everyone in my life, i don’t have them as frequently as before because i have nothing to trigger them” _that’s exactly how i feel every time i poof in somewhere without my binder!_ reggie thought.

“you have a binder? that’s awesome!” okay maybe reggie didn’t just think about it. “yeah i um- i got it before we died, just like this haircut” reggie pointed to their hair “i’m so glad i did, i can’t imagine living for eternity with the long hair i used to have” reggie was starting to feel a little uncomfortable but at this point, they knew willie would never judge them. so they continued “and yeah i got a binder while we were still alive, i couldn’t stop thinking about buying one ever since luke got his, before he got the top surgery. so i bought one with my parent’s money i think two months before the orpheum and every time i had it on i felt amazing, so naturally i decided do play the orpheum with it which means i died wearing it and now when i’m not focused enough while poofing it just disappears and appears after i take a nap, which has been a real pain in the ass, lemme tell you. sleeping in weird alleys? not fun, not even as a ghost” reggie laughed at their own words while waiting for willie’s response.

“you should tell the guys reg, or at least alex. he’ll understand for sure” willie said in a serious tone, which made reggie stop laughing and terror took over their face. “i- i don- i don’t think i can do that, what if they hate me because i’ve been lying to them for so long?” and just like that reggie was crying again.

“i’ll go with you if you want me to? i can explain it all to luke because i doubt alex said anything more that ‘willie uses they pronouns’” and reggie nodded. because they did want willie to come along and with that, willie squeezed reggie’s hand before standing up and poofing into the studio. and not so long after, reggie followed.

**_\+ one_ **

when reggie poofs into the garage, they can see willie with a supportive smile, showing them thumbs up. alex and luke look pretty terrified though, reggie wonders what willie said before they poofed in.

reggie is about to start talking when the garage doors open and julie along with flynn walks in too. reggie is a little confused before they realize that band practice was scheduled for today so it’s no surprise that julie and flynn are here too since julie is in the band and flynn just _needs her eye candy._

everyone is looking at reggie, waiting for them to say something. luke is kinda bummed that band practice is probably not happening today but he can get over it if it means he’ll finally find out what’s going on with his best friend.

“so there’s this thing that i’ve been feeling for a while, actually it started couple of years before we died and gradually just became bigger and bigger part of my life but i didn’t have a name for it so i just tried to ignore it, though it became pretty hard after some time so i kind of acted on it but i still didn’t tell anyone because i was scared. i’ve been feeling kinda uncomfortable with being perceived as a girl but i also know i’m not a boy which just really sucked and it didn’t make sense to me. i also really hate when people use she pronouns when they talk about me but i know that he aren’t much better. i knew since 94’ that i felt comfortable with they but i was scared you guys wouldn’t understand and would kick me out of the band and stop being friends with me so i never really said anything but today when alex called willie they, i finally felt like this may not be as bad as i thought it would be. when i found willie, they explained to me what being non-binary meant and i think that’s me. actually no, i know that’s me, that’s who i am and really i hope you guys are okay with that” reggie finished their speech and took a deep breath in as they wiped the tears away from their face, again.

luke and alex were just straight up staring at reggie, probably thinking of something appropriate to say so reggie turned to julie, hoping they would get a better answer there, but julie was doing the exact same thing as the guys.

“what’s going on?” flynn asked, sounding a little nervous, which no one can blame her for. julie looked at reggie, quietly asking if she can tell flynn and reggie nodded slowly. flynn was the band’s manager after all, she had to know as much as possible about everyone. “reggie just came out as non-binary” julie said with a smile forming on her face. after that she walked towards reggie to hug them as tightly as possible to show support. thanks to that, reggie became visible and solid to everyone for the next few minutes and as soon as flynn saw she went ahead to join the hug.

after a while, everyone was hugging everyone and even though it was a mess, reggie never felt better. so of course, things had to go to shit again.

because reggie was so nervous and eager to come out now that they could put a label on it, they didn’t realize their binder was missing. and suddenly reggie couldn’t breathe, every touch felt like too much so they started trying to get out of the group hug. everyone picked up on reggie’s strange behavior but only willie knew what was really going on.

reggie was ready to poof away when julie grabbed their arm, refusing to let go. “reggie what’s going on?” she asked with a concerned face. reggie regained the ability to breathe (which again, what the fuck?) but after the whole coming out thing there was no way they were gonna be able to explain this, so they shot a hopeful look towards willie, hoping the other would pick up on it.

and thankfully, willie did. after getting a nod from reggie, willie explained the whole binder thing almost exactly as reggie explained it to them earlier that day. everyone kept shooting glances at reggie to make sure they were okay, while also trying to look at willie to get as much information out of them as possible.

reggie wasn’t sure when, but sometime during willie’s explanations, they fell asleep. when reggie woke up, they expected all of their friends to just go about their business as usual but this time, everyone was sitting on the couch (or close to the couch), waiting for reggie to wake up.

to say that reggie was scared would be an understatement. reggie was absolutely terrified that everyone just decided to hate them and kick them out so when they sat up to signalize they were awake, they automatically froze while waiting to hear the bad news. instead, everyone stood up and walked closer to reggie (this time not hugging them to make sure they had their space). “we love you reg, you know that right? and there’s nothing you could say to make us leave you alone-“ alex started “yeah, we love you, you’re our best friend, we’d never leave you” luke finished alex’s sentence and reggie didn’t even realize they were moving until they were hugging their best friends.

“for what it’s worth i love you too reggie, so so much. you will never get rid of me, and i mean never. if you guys don’t cross over before i die, i’ll make sure to have unfinished business so i can still hang out with you. i mean it” julie said after reggie pulled away from the guys. reggie smiled at her before hugging her too, a huge smile sitting on their face. when reggie pulled away, they looked around, realizing willie was missing. apparently, reggie’s thoughts were very easily read as alex said “willie had to go sort out some stuff with caleb, but he promised to be back as soon as possible, they told us as much as they could remember about what you two talked about, but we’d still appreciate hearing it from you too” before reggie even opened their mouth to ask a question. “yeah like what pet names are you still comfy with, can we call you dude? and stuff like that you know” luke blurted out, gaining a light smack on his shoulder from alex.

“i mean, i guess dude and bro are fine? definitely no feminine names, i hate those” said reggie with a small chuckle before continuing “i can’t really think of any pet names i’d be uncomfortable with but i promise to tell you if you use something that makes me feel bad” reggie was really proud with how they were handling the situation so far. they thought that without willie there, it would be a disaster but it’s not. “so willie said something about you dying in your binder? that must have felt so horrible. i remember feeling like i was dying during school, no wonder you went out first, it must have been hell for you” luke said out of nowhere. reggie froze for a second but after they reminded themselves that these people were their friends, reggie let themselves laugh at luke’s kind-of joke. 

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading, feel free to leave any critique in the comments thank you <3


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